Why You Should See Disney’s Lion Guard: Return of the Roar #LionGuardEvent

Whiles my kids were watching the Disney Channel a while back they saw a preview for The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar and they told me all about it. They were both super excited about another Lion King movie coming out. On my recent trip with Disney we stopped in at the Disney Channel building to screen the movie, while also finding out that after the movie a new series will be seen as well. It will premiere with a one-hour movie, The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar, on November 22, 2015 followed by a television series on Disney Junior on January 3, 2016. The Lion Guard has 26 episodes prepared for the first season.

“Set in the African Savanna, The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar follows Kion as he assembles the members of the Lion Guard,” a news release for the show reads. “Throughout the movie and the series, the diverse team of young animals will learn how to utilize each of their unique abilities to solve problems and accomplish tasks to maintain balance within the Circle of Life, while also introducing young viewers to the vast array of animals that populate the prodigious African landscape

Kion is so much like Simba was when he was living with Timon and Pumba. He just wants to play and takes no responsibility as the son of the king. It’s partly because he knows he’s not going to be king so what does he  need to worry about? Well while playing with his best friend Bunga, Bunga gets caught by a bunch of Hyenas and has to be saved. So Kion roars and oh wow what a roar comes out of his mouth. It’s the roar of the Lion Guard. The Lion Guard is a group of lions that protects the pride lands, at least that’s what it was in the past. Watching The Lion Guard you’ll find lots of music with the expansive landscapes. There will be a song on each episode.

Of course Kion does things his own way. He picks members composed of the Pride Lands’ fiercest, bravest, fastest, strongest, and keenest of sight: Bunga (a honey badger), Fuli (a cheetah), Beshte (a hippo), and Ono (an egret). Now you may wonder where did this idea come from?

Executive Producer Ford Riley  was tasked to come up with a way to bring The Lion King back to a younger audience. He thought of the super heroes with the characteristics consisting of the fiercest, bravest, fastest, strongest, and keenest of sight regarding animals. He rand the idea by his son and his son didn’t seem interested. He said by dad and ran off to his room to play. Ford went to talk to his son to see how he could improve upon his idea and found his son playing with the animals he described and felt he had a hit.

Disney consulted with Swahili Consultant Sarah Mirza who has given each animal a catch phrase in Swahili. Even the names of the characters are in Swahili. Your kids will be learning some Swahili just by watching episodes of The Lion Guard.